Boston Celtics guard Ray Allen, who sat out Wednesday's win against the Atlanta Hawks because of swelling in his ailing right ankle, did not travel with the team to Toronto on Thursday in advance of the start of a four-game road trip.

Allen missed six games after injuring the ankle during Boston's West Coast road trip in mid-March. He developed swelling that limited his mobility. An MRI revealed no structural damage in the ankle, but he received a cortisone shot shortly before his return.

It just swells, I guess," Rivers said. "I don't know. I got a call a little while ago (informing him that Allen would be out). It is what it is. ... I'm just more concerned that this is the second or third time this has happened. So that's concerning."

Rivers said his expectation was Allen would travel with the team and play in Toronto, but him not making the trip is not an encouraging sign about the status of his ankle.

Not good news here as Ray continues to have these ankle issues. Jackie MacMullan mentioned a couple weeks ago that she thought that Ray would eventually need surgery on his ankle.

My whole thing is that the Celtics must be 100% healthy in the playoffs. I don't really care about seeding. If you're good enough to make the Finals, you're good enough to win one extra game on the road or play the top teams sooner in the playoffs rather than later. Because of this I'd actually start to cut down on the starters minutes the rest of the regular season.

With regards to Ray, sit him the entire rest of the regular season if that will make him last through the playoffs. Ray's a rhythm player. He'll be much less effective if he's playing one day and then not playing the next. I do have a fear that MacMullan is correct and won't see Ray at 100% again this Spring. If that's the case, you just hope to get the most you can out of him. Plenty of players play through pretty severe injuries. It becomes a pain threshold thing and are you still helping the team issue. As long as Ray is still hitting his shots, he'll still be helping the team.